


Nowhere to hide inside my mind

by Rangergirl3



Series: Whumptober 2019 [24]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Hallucinations, Heavy Angst, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Non-Consensual Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23255770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangergirl3/pseuds/Rangergirl3
Relationships: Hunk & Keith (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt
Series: Whumptober 2019 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1506101
Comments: 20
Kudos: 163





	1. Chapter 1

"Tell us what you are."

Through the haze that blurs his vision, Keith does his best to remain still. It's difficult. His muscles ache, every inch of him hurts, and already his hands and knees are quivering from the effort it takes to support his weight. 

_He can't answer the question._

Somewhere above him, a voice snarls in anger, and a booted foot kicks him hard in the ribs. He crumples onto his side and just lies there, feebly attempting to shield his head with his arms as the boot kicks him again, in the stomach this time.

_He's taking too long. He has to answer, he has to, or they're going to beat him._

The voices around him are so loud. The words spear into his skull. It hurts to think now.

" _Tell_ us _what_ you _are_."

Keith doesn't want to answer. They already know what he is. They've told him, countless times. Even so, he can't bring himself to say it. He _can't._

_Saying it would make it true._

When someone steps on his injured leg, the world goes white with pain, and all he can do after that is scream.

The next time they demand him to speak, he's not even sure what the words _mean_ , but at this point, nothing matters except making the horrible pain _stop_.

* * *

Even three corridors away, the awful mess of incoherent sound raises the hairs on the back of Pidge's neck, but she doesn't let it slow down her efforts to pick the lock of her cell.

"Fuck fuck _fuck_ these **_fucking_** locks," she snarls, doing her best to ignore the way Hunk is retching in the cell next to hers. 

Lance, whose cell is the farthest from hers, is unusually pale and quiet, and he doesn't chime in with a clever retort. He just takes hold of Hunk's arm through the bars and holds onto it in a silent attempt at comfort.

* * *

_The pain isn't stopping, it isn't stopping, why isn't it stopping, he'd said what they wanted him to, please, stop, stop stop stop -_

_"_ Say it. _"_

_He'd said it, over and over again, but the pain didn't stop, why didn't it stop, please - please -_

"Again."

_He repeats what he'd said before, frantic to make the pain stop, even for a second - please -_

* * *

With something mid-way between a snarl and a screech, the metal lock gives way. Pidge slams the door open and catapults herself towards the control panel that will open the other cell doors.

Now it's time to get their friend back.


	2. Chapter 2

Alarms start to blare, and purple lights set in the panels of the room begin flashing some sort of code.

Keith almost doesn't notice. His head hurts, it hurts worse than he ever thought it could, and every bone in his body aches and throbs with pain. He can't breathe right. 

He's on his side, curled into the smallest ball he can manage, but someone swears and gives him a final kick in the back, and Keith can't stop himself from repeating what they'd commanded him to say, in the faint hope that it might delay further hurt.

"'m - worthless - 'm - 'less - 'm -"

Fingers grab hold of his left wrist, and then there's an awful, twisting, wrenching sort of pain in his left arm that causes his breath to stutter. 

_What's going on - why does my arm...hurt...what's..._

He tries to pull his arm away, but gets struck across the face for doing so, hard enough where he's sent sprawling back onto the ground, staring fixedly up into bright white lights which _hurt,_ but not nearly as much as the rest of him.

Footsteps, running away from him, a door slamming shut.

_He's alone._

His arm...aches...why...does it...

_He can't remember._

Keith tries to roll over, back onto his hands and knees, so maybe he could crawl into a corner, but he can't accomplish even that relatively simple task. He's stuck here, lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, with the flashing lights and the awful, relentless noise.

_It's too much, it's too much, just make the pain stop just make it stop stop stop stop_

Then there are voices, different faces, frantic questions, but he can't understand what's happening, so he just goes back to repeating what was beaten into him over...how long had it been? An hour, maybe two?

_Pathetic._

Keith squeezes his eyes tight shut, but he still can't block out the voices.

_Maybe he never will._

* * *

Pidge is the first one at the Red Paladin's side.

"Keith?! Keith, hey, let's get out of here, okay?"

She reaches for his left arm, but stops when she sees that there's a small, yet steady, trickle of blood from somewhere near Keith's elbow. Lance, coming around to Keith's other side, sees it too and speaks up for the first time in what feels like days.

"What the fuck - did - did they inject him with something?!"

"Maybe," she growls, doing her best to figure out just how, exactly, they are going to carry Keith back to the Castle. He's in bad shape. 

"I can - I can do it," Hunk offers, his voice only shaking slightly. "I can - I can try to - you know, carry him."

Pidge is too focused on taking Keith's pulse to reply, but Lance does so for both of them.

"Good plan, Hunk. I'll take point, and I'll shoot anything between us and the way out, okay? Pidge, do you want to -"

It's only then that the three of them realize that Keith is muttering something, almost feverishly, under his breath.

* * *

"- 'm worthless - 'm - worth - worthless - p-please - stop, please -"

Somewhere above him, Keith hears someone inhale sharply, a harsh intake of air breath that can only signify one thing: fury. Fear takes hold of him, and he tries to to hide his head beneath his arm, desperately repeating what he'd been ordered to say.

"-'m -'m worth-thless - 'm -"

* * *

In that moment, Pidge sees red.

It isn't a hue, or a shade, or even a color, really.

It's a desire to take on the entire fucking planet in a series of heartbeats, laying such waste and devastation to the bastards who hurt her friend that the universe would only whisper of the event for eons to come.

But, as it always does, her tactician's mind brings what's truly important into crystal clear focus.

Her friend is scared, and he needs help.

_First things first._

_Help Keith now._

_Then retribution, later._

* * *

Keith keeps repeating the words, not daring to stop.

_It's okay, it's fine, it's true, anyway, he **is** worthless, because the others have families, and he doesn't, it's true, it's true, it's -_

Someone picks him up, and in the brief semi-second of clarity that comes hand-in-hand with the gut-wrenching dread of imminent pain, Keith opens his eyes and sees the other three Paladins around him. 

From the look on Pidge's face, an alien race is about to find out that there will be hell to pay in the near-immediate future. Lance already has his gun out and trained on the doorway leading out of the room, and Hunk...

Hunk's the one carrying him, and the Yellow Paladin's face is sad, but kind, too.

"No, Keith," Hunk says. "You're not worthless."

Keith stops mid-word, too dizzy with pain and confusion to argue.

"They lied to you," Lance says, speaking over his shoulder. Keith can't be certain, but Lance sounds...both sad, _and_ angry.

From where she's tying a make-shift bandage over the small puncture wound in his arm, Pidge sniffs and nods in agreement.

"-and for that," she says, more to herself than to the others, "- I intend - to remedy - the situation."

She ties off the bandage carefully, and sniffs again as she does so. 

"Fucking _bastards_ ," she concludes, trying to lighten the tone of the room.

* * *

Keith swallows, his eyes already half-closed from the strain of the lights and the sounds all around them.

Hunk takes a moment to adjust Keith's position as best he can, so that Keith's neck is supported, and then they head out.

On the way, Pidge keeps an ear open. Even so, she really has to listen closely to realize that Keith is saying something, but whether it's to Hunk, or to the room at large, she isn't sure. Maybe Keith isn't even sure.

"I - I c-can still - h-hear - them," he chokes out. His face is a mess of blood and tears, but underneath, he's as pale as a ghost. "The - voices - they're - not- n-not - s-stopping -"

Hunk swallows, but continues walking as Keith tries to hide his face in Hunk's shoulder.

From up ahead, Lance shouts "All clear!" and they make a run for it.

* * *

Back on the Castle, as they hurry towards the pods, Pidge manages to catch up with Hunk long enough to make eye contact with Keith.

"Hey - Keith -?"

He manages to open an eye, but it's bleary and hazy with pain, and the question he asks is a hard one to answer.

"-'idge - w-what if - w-what if it - n- _never_ s-stops..?"

At the fear in his voice, Pidge's feet slam against the floor with slightly more force than before in contained fury at the assholes who caused it, but she concentrates on keeping her tone genuinely compassionate when she answers. She has to speak in short bursts, since her legs are so much shorter than Hunk's.

"-then I'll - help you - drown it out - with - music," she promises. "-and - uh - maybe some - uh - like - therapy, too - does that - s-sound okay - to you?" She's really gasping for air now. Hunk is moving _fast_. 

Keith nods once, slowly. His eye is already closing once again.

* * *

After he's safely in the healing pod, Pidge stands at her station on the Castle's bridge, staring out at nothing.

She doesn't know how long the memory of the cruelty her friend survived may take to fade, or if it ever will. 

Even so, she knows one thing for damn certain.

She _will_ find a way to help her friend.


End file.
